Legal briefs: SoS concedes Purley development decision was flawed; South London homeowner fined for illegal extension

The housing secretary has accepted that his decision to refuse permission for a 17-storey tower block in Purley, south London, should be quashed and reconsidered after conceding that he failed to give adequate reasons when refusing planning permission.

Residents in the Dublin neighbourhood of Chapelizod are to seek an injunction to stop the city council building a complex of six social housing blocks of flats in the area using emergency planning powers which avoid the need for planning permission.

A High Court judge has granted a claimant permission for a judicial review of the Marine Management Organisation’s decision to allow Dover Harbour Board to dredge three million tonnes of aggregate from the South Goodwins sandbank which forms part of a proposed Marine Conservation Zone.

A High Court judge has handed down an important judgment on the mandatory requirements of the government’s National Planning Policy Guidance (NPPG) following a case involving Torridge District Council and permission granted for a large out of town retail outlet at Bideford.